Indonesia’s ruling Democratic Party and its Malaysian counterpart, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), have agreed to establish a joint committee to discuss the ever-emerging and varied disputes between Indonesia and Malaysia.

Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum said the agreement was made during a meeting in Jakarta on Tuesday between him and the deputy president of UMNO, Muhyiddin Yassin, also the current deputy prime minister of Malaysia.

Anas said the joint committee would address issues such as Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia, border disputes and cultural heritage claims, which have repeatedly sparked fresh tensions between citizens of the neighboring nations.

He said the two ruling parties’ decision to join hands to seek solutions to the disputes was expected to help finally put an end to them.

“We’ve agreed to establish a joint committee. This is basically a commitment of Democrats and the UMNO to working together on especially sensitive issues,” Anas said after the meeting, as quoted by Indonesian news portal republika.co.id.

“We believe if the two parties work together, we’ll make a more significant contribution [to the settlement of the disputes], which will benefit both Indonesia and Malaysia. As neighbors we have no other choice but establishing a comprehensive partnership and friendship,” he added.